# The Abu Salabikh literary tablets (IAS), including the Kesh Temple Hymn and the Zame hymns

> Early Dynastic IIIa tablets of about 2600 BC excavated by the Oriental Institute in 1963 and 1965, published by Biggs as Inscriptions from Tell Abu…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/artifacts/ART0DEDQRQ9Q3ZW/the-abu-salabikh-literary-tablets-ias-including-the-kesh  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Mysteries](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries)[Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)[Artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform#artifacts)The Abu Salabikh literary tablets (IAS), including the Kesh Temple Hymn and the Zame hymns

**ART** 0DEDQRQ9Q3ZW·Artifact · document

# The Abu Salabikh literary tablets (IAS), including the Kesh Temple Hymn and the Zame hymns

DocumentCDLI terms: transliteration freely reusable with attributionEarly Dynastic IIIa, c. 2600 to 2500 BC

[Cite]

**Not kept here.** This copy isn't ours to show. [See it where it's published](https://cdli.earth/P010248).

Early Dynastic IIIa tablets of about 2600 BC excavated by the Oriental Institute in 1963 and 1965, published by Biggs as Inscriptions from Tell Abu Salabikh (1974) and supplemented in 1978 and 2009. They include the oldest copies of the Kesh Temple Hymn, readable through its Old Babylonian duplicate, the 70 Zame hymns, which have no duplicate and are translated only provisionally, and UD.GAL.NUN compositions that remain largely unread.

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, after Biggs 1971 and 1974. CDLI terms: transliteration freely reusable with attribution

## Copies 2

**Transcription on cdli** Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, after Biggs 1971 and 1974 · cdli.earth · CDLI terms: transliteration freely reusable with attributionPrimary source: [CDLI Literary 000751, ex. 011 (P010248): Kesh Temple Hymn witness from Abu Salabikh](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJNSNBQX9/cdli-literary-000751-ex-011-p010248-kesh-temple-hymn-witness)1 step from the original

[Where it's published](https://cdli.earth/P010248)

**Etcsl composite transliteration and translation (c.4.80.2)** Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (after Gragg 1969 and Civil) · etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk · ETCSL, University of Oxford; copyright terms on the sitePrimary source: [The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: About the project](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDH9RXCRY0/the-electronic-text-corpus-of-sumerian-literature-about-the)2 steps from the original

[Where it's published](https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.80.2)

## Where it is kept

[Iraq Museum, Baghdad](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/places/PLC0DEDN0X5DGC2/iraq-museum-baghdad) · Museum

## Sources 4

- [An Archaic Sumerian Version of the Kesh Temple Hymn from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ4RSV9CP/an-archaic-sumerian-version-of-the-kesh-temple-hymn-from)_SRC_
- [CDLI Literary 000751, ex. 011 (P010248): Kesh Temple Hymn witness from Abu Salabikh](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJNSNBQX9/cdli-literary-000751-ex-011-p010248-kesh-temple-hymn-witness)_SRC_
- [The Sumerian Zame Hymns from Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ, with an appendix on the Early Dynastic colophons](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ5N9KSRA/the-sumerian-zame-hymns-from-tell-abu-salabih-with-an)_SRC_
- [The tablets from Abu Salabikh and their provenance](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ6QF8S1J/the-tablets-from-abu-salabikh-and-their-provenance)_SRC_

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The Abu Salabikh literary tablets (IAS), including the Kesh Temple Hymn and the Zame hymns [Artifact ART0DEDQRQ9Q3ZW]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDQRQ9Q3ZW
```

Key

**ART** 0DEDQRQ9Q3ZW

Kind

Document

Held by

National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad (IM numbers; excavation numbers AbS-T)

Dated

Early Dynastic IIIa, c. 2600 to 2500 BC

Licence

CDLI terms: transliteration freely reusable with attribution

Place

[Iraq Museum, Baghdad](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/places/PLC0DEDN0X5DGC2/iraq-museum-baghdad)

Part of

[Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)

The record

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